The Elephant in the Lab
by dearxoxo
Summary: "There was an elephant in the room and it was getting bigger and bigger with each passing day." Set after the events of Season One. Fitz has recovered from the incident and well...there are consequences. Fitz and Skye friendship, and hopefully, FitzSimmons relationship.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: No, I don't own Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

A/N: I've been toying with the term "Elephant in the room" around my head for the past few weeks and this is what came out. My first attempt at a FitzSimmons fic (and a multi-chapter, sort-of).

Probably OOC (just a warning).

Channelling Skye's POV. :)

* * *

Skye looked up from her laptop just in time to see Simmons walking out of the lab, fists clenched, brows knitted together, jaw rigid, and eyes welling up and staring hard at the floor. The hacker turned her gaze towards the aforementioned girl's lab partner who was staring at her retreating back, wearing the same facial expression, his hands gripping hard at a new weapon prototype. He was still for a while, long after the lab doors have closed.

Skye frowned. She watched as the engineer shifted his gaze from the door to the prototype in his hands, evidently not really seeing what he was holding, his eyes betraying the fact that his thoughts were a million miles away. Well maybe not a million miles away but just a floor above the lab. He took a deep breath before putting down his invention on the table and sinking into his chair.

This has been the third time that Skye had witnessed the scene that just played out before her. Simmons storming out of the lab leaving Fitz looking upset, frustrated, and...sad.

"Hey." she called out.

Fitz looked up.

"You alright?" she asked.

"Yeah." he replied. "Just a little tired." he added. His facial muscles, in Skye's opinion, working hard to force a smile on his face.

"O-kay." Skye said, not really sold but she figured if either of the scientists wanted to talk about it, they'd do so when they were ready.

She turned her eyes back on her laptop, pretending to be back at work. She glanced at her friend's direction every now and then. He still looked upset. He was leaning back on his chair, his eyes closed and his right hand pinching the bridge of his nose, brows furrowed.

An hour has passed since the lab drama and it seemed that Simmons had no plans of coming back. The day was about to end anyway.

Skye sighed.

There was an elephant in the room and it was getting bigger and bigger with each passing day.

* * *

"What really happened down there, Fitz?" Skye asked when for the fifth time that week she saw Simmons leaving the lab obviously upset and an equally upset Fitz watching her storm away. She closed her laptop to look up at the engineer. He was frozen at his seat, staring at the now-closed lab doors.

She'd had enough of the drama and it hurt her to see her friends hurting. _Hurting each other_, actually. She figured out that whatever the problem was, it had something to do with their underwater near-death experience.

Fitz, caught off-guard, snapped his attention towards her. He opened his mouth to speak but when no words came out, he closed it and then opened it and closed it again. Skye thought that on a different day—on a better day—she would have found it funny. He seemed to have lost his voice and cleared his throat. She sensed that he was going to deny anything and beat him to it.

"I know something happened down there. Something that's making you and Simmons act weirdly around each other ever since you woke up from your coma." She crossed her arms before her and raised her eyebrow, as if daring him to deny it.

Fitz didn't speak.

Skye stood up with a huff. "You've been avoiding each other. You don't make eye contact. You look embarrassed when you realize you're finishing each other's sentences. You stop finishing each other's sentences. You flinch when you realize you're in each other's personal space. You try to keep as much distance between you here in the lab. You treat each other as though you're a bomb that could blow up at any moment!"

She was shouting now. She didn't care if the whole BUS heard her. She knew they were all on the same boat. They were all concerned for Fitz and Simmons.

"And don't even _dare_ try to deny that something's wrong. You guys are not acting like the FitzSimmons I know! Not at all!"

She stared hard at Fitz after her rant and noticed that he had tears welling up in his eyes.

"What happened down there, Fitz?" she asked again, voice softer this time. She walked towards him and gently touched his arm. She wondered if he would pull away, knowing how uncomfortable he was with physical contact, and was a little relieved when he didn't.

He took a deep breath and then looked at her.

"I told her."

It took Skye about three seconds before she understood what Fitz said.

"Oh." She squeezed his arm gently.

Fitz took another deep breath before setting his gaze firmly on the floor.

"We-she-figured out a way on how we can get out of the med pod. As we were setting it up, I realized that only one of us could actually get out of there alive. The oxygen canister only had enough for one breath. It had to be her. She had to live. Ever since we joined the team I..." he paused. Skye could sense that he was struggling to say what he wanted to say. She put her hands on his shoulders, trying-hoping-to lend him strength.

He closed his eyes, leaning his forehead on his hands before he continued.

"I hated myself for how I could never save her from anything. It was that bastard Ward who saved her when she jumped out of the BUS. It was her and her bloody heroics that actually saved us from that dendrotoxin grenade and even though we found out eventually that it was just dendrotoxin, I couldn't help but think that what if it wasn't and feel useless because then I would have watched her die in front of me. And then the siege at the Hub and what if Hydra found her and she was killed and I was no where near her and then I think that even if I was what could I have done? I was a bloody, spineless coward."He sobbed. Skye rubbed what she hoped were soothing circles on his back. She was having trouble holding in her own tears.

"And then...that situation we found ourselves in in the pod...I thought that that was my chance. My chance to truly be her hero. Because she said before that I was but I guess I never truly believed her. To prove that I wasn't the coward I've always thought myself to be." He sniffed.

"I really had no plans of telling her how I felt. I...was going to die with that. I had made peace with that. It was enough for me that I would die knowing that I saved her. But...you know how stubborn she could be. She wouldn't accept the oxygen. I told her I couldn't live if she didn't. She said she felt the same way. She said she would never leave me behind...I was her bestfriend in the world and before I knew it the words were out of my mouth. _'You're more than that'_, I told her. I was going to die anyway so it didn't matter to me anymore that she didn't feel the same way. What mattered was that, at least, she knew why I was willing to die just so she could have the chance to live. I needed to show her I love her."

For once in her life, words failed Skye. She could almost hear her own heart breaking with his.

"I was supposed to die." Fitz said, breaking the silence that hung over them. He turned to look at her finally, and she could see through his tears the pain and sadness reflected in his eyes.

"I wasn't supposed to live and come back to just being her bestfriend."

* * *

A/N: So...there. Any thoughts?

Constructive criticism is highly appreciated :)


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Disclaimer: SHIELD and anything related: not mine.

-0-

This is a flashback.

* * *

Skye wandered around the Playground. It has been a week since they arrived at their new base. A week since Coulson was named S.H.I.E.L.D. Director. A week since they've defeated the Hydra team led by Garrett. They knew they haven't seen nor heard the end of it. The war has just begun. Nevertheless, they were thankful that they all survived, albeit barely.

Skye stopped walking and sighed. She must have been so absorbed in her own thoughts that she didn't realize her feet (or maybe her subconscious) were leading her to the one place she's been trying to avoid. She was at the entrance to the med wing. Not that it was really an entrance so much as a huge green and white sign that read MEDICAL WING. She'd been wary of hospitals ever since being shot. Well, hospital smells. She didn't really remember what it was like to be in the hospital since she was barely even alive the whole time she was there and the only memory she has of being in a medical facility was in her med pod at the BUS. The smell though...

She cringed at the thought of that particular med pod. It was because of that same damned thing and what happened inside it 90 feet in the bottom of the ocean that she was supposed to be at this side of the base. No, it really wasn't the med pod. It was who threw it out into the ocean, but it was far less painful to think of that inanimate object and hate it than to think of that particular person and live through all the emotions that came with the memories.

She shook her head hoping to clear her mind with the movement. She was already here anyway. Might as well go and check on them.

She knew she was being a little selfish and ungrateful. She visited at least twice since they'd been there but then once they had settled by the third day and were officially started to rebuild shield. Her services were required in the office. That was her excuse but if she was being honest, she just couldn't face them.

She resumed walking. He was in the third room from the entrance.

_One_. She counted in her head as she passed a door to her left.

_Two_. This time the door was to her right.

_Three_. She stopped and stood facing the third door which was to her left.

She deliberated on whether or not to knock. She decided not to and opened the door as quietly as possible and peered in. The room was the size of the standard private hospital room. There were couches on one side lined up by a wall; a small fridge was stood at the far corner. The hospital bed was in the middle of the room. Machines that whurred and whirred and beeped which she didn't know the names to were placed on both sides of the bed by the headboard. Tubes were attached from the machines to her scientist friend who was lying on the bed, unaware that his best friend sat beside him on his bed, holding his hands and gazing at him with a solemn expression on her face.

A week has passed and nothing has changed.

Skye lingered on the door for a few more seconds before opening it completely and letting herself in. Simmons didn't even look up nor move from her current position and, not for the first time, Skye wondered if she was telepathically communicating with Fitz, maybe willing him to wake-up.

"Hey," she said when more than a minute has passed and the other girl remained oblivious to her presence.

Simmons looked up, though without moving from her position.

"Hello, Skye," She managed a small smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "I didn't hear you come in. I'm sorry."

_What was she even apologizing for?_

"No, it's okay," she said, waving her hands and shaking her head. "Don't apologize. You have nothing to apologize for. None at all."

She walked closer towards them. "How's he doing?" she asked.

"Still the same," Simmons whispered, turning her gaze back on the man lying in the hospital bed.

Skye sat down at the couch opposite the bed. She watched the two. They steady hum of the machines provided the backdrop to the silence that fell between them. She was used to the silence that came between them whenever the three of them were in the lab back at the BUS, busy with their own work. But it was the kind of silence that could easily be broken by a light-hearted comment by any one of them about their particular work which could easily turn to a full blown conversation interspersed with jokes and could just as easily resume to silence, each of them back to their own work.

This silence between them now choked her. Who knew that silence could be suffocating? The whirs of the machines were starting to be overwhelming in that it seemed to go louder and louder as the seconds ticked by.

Simmons remained unmoving, as though Fitz lying there has left her paralyzed as well. There was some other feeling hovering in the air.

Skye has experienced this feeling before. She was 10 and was staying with a new foster family. It was an unfortunate time that during almost a month of her stay there, the father passed away. It was a heart attack. He was 38 years old. It was unexpected. It unfortunate for her also that she was an outsider who couldn't do anything but bear witness to the family's sadness and pain. A black cloud hung over the house. The night after the funeral, each of the family members went to their own corners of the house, a blank expression in their eyes. They talked in hushed tones if they could or should. She was back at the orphanage the following day. It was the first time she ever felt relieved to be back there.

_Grief. _

Deep in her heart Skye knew that their Team treated each other as family. She thought of them as the family she has always wanted complete with Mom, Dad, and loving but sometimes annoying too smart for their own good siblings. Yet she couldn't shake off the feeling that once again, she was an outsider to this grief. _To Simmons' grief._ They all were. They all knew that she was trying her best to be strong. Since they were rebuilding S.H.I.E.L.D. and needed to utilize all the man power available (which basically were Coulson, May, Tripp, Skye, Simmons and Koenig 2.0 who has relented on helping them rather than just being their baby sitter).

Simmons focused on any task Coulson gave her and finished it just as quickly as before and yet whenever she wasn't working or if the task required little concentration, Simmons had that blank, far-away look in her eyes and the smile that used to light up a room like sunshine was hidden behind a layer of storm clouds.

They were FitzSimmons after all. Best friends since who knows how long, and Skye realized she's never really asked and hoped that it wasn't too late to know more about their history. But she'd prefer to have them both narrating it to her.

She'd want to ask Fitz when exactly he'd started seeing his best friend more than just a bestfriend. She's teased him about it before. She even used it as blackmail once so he would agree to see a movie with her. (Disclaimer: it was not a date. at least not of the romantic type. She was in the FitzSimmons ship through and through).

She hasn't yet heard from Simmons what happened in the ocean. She knew Ward dropped them there yet how they got out before (ex-) Director Fury managed to save them was a story Simmons was keeping to herself. All she told the rest of the team was that Fitz saved them. He was the hero.

Skye wanted so badly to ask the details of what happened but there was something about the way that Simmons hovered over Fitz that made Skye hold back.

Simmons would tell her when she was ready.

But she would try to at least let the other girl know it was okay to talk.

"How are you doing, Simmons?" she asked.

Simmons looked at her again and smiled her sad smile.

"Still the same." She replied. She paused and took a deep breath and for a moment Skye thought she saw a hint of uncertainty flit through the biochemist's eyes as though she was about to say something but then the next moment it was gone, and the only emotion she could see was sadness.

"You know I'm always here for you, right?" Skye said. "All of us."

The other girl nodded. "Thank you." She whispered and resumed her previous position.

Skye watched her intently for a moment before she sank back into the couch and joined Simmons' silent vigil over their unconscious friend.

* * *

A/N: This is turning out waaaaay differently from how I initially thought it up to be. I think I need a beta. But y'know. How?


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Disclaimer: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and anything related are not mine.

* * *

Skye spent the last few hours thinking about the elephant situation. She remembered all too well how Jemma was when they first got here to the Playground. The sadness behind her smile even as she greeted them when the BUS landed. Remembered how she spent every waking moment by Fitz's bedside in the Med Wing. And if she tried hard enough to remember, she swears she could still even feel the grief hovering in the air. Or maybe it never left.

She had waited for Fitz to calm down before she left him alone in the lab. She felt fairly certain he wouldn't do anything rash or dangerous or stupid once she was gone.

She walked along the corridor where their bunks were located. They all had a room to themselves and after spending months in an airborne command station with a room comparable in size to the back of her old van (not even the whole van), she regarded it as a luxury. She stopped when she reached the fifth door to the left; Jemma's room.

She sighed. No one warned her that having real friends and family meant having to troubleshoot emotional disputes. She was very good at sensing disagreements and often takes it as her cue to exit a group. Then again, she has never cared for anyone more than she cared for this team.

She has been standing there for what felt like ten minutes before she took a deep breath and knocked. She heard the creaks of the bed indicating someone standing up and the shuffle of feet walking towards the door. It opened and Simmons peered out.

"Hello, Skye." she greeted.

"Hey." she said. "Can I come in?" she said, giving Simmons a small smile. "I hope I'm not intruding or anything."

"No, no. Come in."

Skye let herself in and closed the door behind her. All their rooms were furnished with the same standard issued bed, side table, chair, and dresser.

She sat on the chair facing Simmons who sat at the edge of her bed.

"So..." she realized she didn't really know what to say.

"You've talked to Fitz then?" Simmons asked, though it sounded more like a statement.

"Yes, actually, that's-"

"-why you're here...I figured."

"He told me what happened in the pod."

Simmons didn't say anything, absently picking on some loose thread from her bed cover.

"Everything that happened." Skye continued, saying the words slowly knowing Simmons would understand.

Simmons looked at her, eyes filled with tears. "Yeah. And you're wondering why I never told you...or anyone, am I right?"

Skye nodded.

Simmons took a deep breath, blinking away the tears in her eyes. "It...haunted me," she began to say, dropping her gaze to her hands.

"How could he even think, even for a moment, that I could live without him?" she continued, words flowing faster now.

"And then he said those words. That I was more than just his best friend. But I didn't know if I felt the same. All I knew at that time was that I couldn't even begin to imagine a world without him and I wanted to cling onto him, but time was running out and he pushed that aggravating oxygen canister to me and before I knew what was happening he smiled at me and pushed the button and the breath got knocked right out of us and I had no time to think but I just let my instincts take over and my only thought was him and that I had to take him with me."

Skye didn't say anything but simply reached for her hands and held on tightly. She wanted to say that it was okay, that Fitz was okay now and everything's all right, but she couldn't bring herself to lie.

"It was fortunate that Director Fury found us. I can't even imagine what would have happened if he didn't...or if he came a minute too late. And when we got here. When they brought him here. Somehow I felt that it was my fault that he was there and in a coma. I just...I couldn't leave him down there."

"I wasn't thinking, Skye," she whispered, tears threatening to fall. "All I knew was that I had to take him with me. If there was a chance, even just a small chance that we could both survive I was going to damn well take it." She blinked her tears away furiously.

"But when I finally had the chance to think. Here. Watching him...I knew the possibilities, Skye. I knew that when he woke up – if he woke up – he could have amnesia, or he could have damage in his motor abilities, or he could be paralyzed. And it scared me. That he would wake up but never be the same again. It scared me just as much as the thought of him never waking up. And I knew that it was my fault. That I was selfish. That I was possibly subjecting him to that kind of future because I was selfish. Because I needed him. Because I couldn't live without him."

Skye reached forward and pulled Simmons into a tight hug, patting her back as she finally let herself breakdown.

"But...everything's okay now." Skye said when she felt that Simmons has calmed down a bit. "I mean...he's awake. And he's doing well with his physiotherapy, and he's back in your lab." She pulled away from the hug to look at Simmons.

"Do you...feel the same way about him?" she asked Simmons, choosing her words, knowing how easily flustered the other girl could get.

Simmons stared hard at her hands before she nodded.

"So why are you..."

"I don't think he feels that way anymore." she whispered.

Skye felt her jaw drop. "How could you even think that? Of course he does!"

Simmons shook her head. "No, Skye. You weren't here during his rehab. You don't know what happened after he woke up."

_Oh yeah._ Skye thought. She knew she was missing something. Around that time that Fitz woke up, she was off at the Hub which they have reacquired from the government with the help of a certain Tony Stark. She wanted to fly back to the Playground but Coulson told her to stay put. (_Ordered_, more like.)

"What happened?"

"Suffice to say that he...made it clear that I was his best friend in the world."

"I don't understand."

"He kept telling me that I was his best friend in the world. That he was the luckiest person to be alive because he had me. His best friend."

"I still don't understand," she said shaking her head. "I talked to him and he-"

There was a knock on the door.

"Yes?" Simmons called out.

The door opened and May peered in, nodding at Skye when she saw her before looking straight at Simmons. "Simmons, there's been a change of plan. Wheels up in ten. Better get to the BUS," she said gently.

_What?!_ Skye threw an alarmed look at Simmons but she was looking at May.

"But I—" Simmons started to say. "Director Coulson said I wouldn't be leaving until tomorrow."

May shrugged. If she noticed that Simmons' nose was red or that her eyes were puffy, she didn't let it on. _But of course she noticed,_ Skye thought.

"Haven't you packed yet?" she asked not unkindly.

"I have." And it was only then that Skye noticed the black standard issued mission bag at the foot of the bed. She looked at Simmons' dresser and saw that it was bare. It felt like a stone was dropped in her stomach. _She's leaving us?_

"It's just that I haven't told...the others yet." She heard Simmons say.

"I'm sorry. But we have to follow the schedule."

Simmons just nodded. "Thank you, May," she said.

May nodded once and left.

Skye let a few seconds pass before turning to Simmons.

"Are you...?" she asked, pointing to the bag.

Simmons looked to where she was pointing at and nodded.

"Are you leaving us?" she asked.

"No! No, no, no, Skye." Simmons said, shaking her head. "Director Coulson summoned me earlier this week and informed me that I was needed at the Hub."

Skye breathed in relief. _Simmons isn't leaving us. Well, sort of._

"What for?"

"He just wants me to sort a few things. Like what you did when you were there." She said vaguely.

"Just you?"

"Yes." she said not looking at Skye.

"How long will you be gone?"

"A week," she shrugged. "Maybe more. Director Coulson was not specific."

Skye nodded in understanding. She was told the same and ended up in the Hub for a month. They were silent for a while.

"Were you trying to say goodbye to him?" Skye asked, at the same time that Simmons said, "I'd better get going."

She sighed. "I never got the chance."

Skye hugged her tightly. "I'll..."

"Tell him I'm sorry, will you?" Simmons said before breaking away from her hug.

Skye just nodded.

"Thank you."

Simmons picked up her bag and walked towards the door, Skye trailing behind her. Once in the hallway she turned to Skye again.

"Please take care of him, Skye. Make sure he eats at least two healthy meals a day and limit his junk food intake to just one bag, although I think Trip already takes care of that, but just to be sure. And see that he takes his meds, I have the list and schedule taped by the lab doors. And please make sure he doesn't strain himself too much in the lab and that he gets at least six hours of sleep and that he continues with his physiotherapy exercises."

"And would you like me to tuck him in bed, too, and read him storybooks?" she asked, rolling her eyes.

"His favorite is Jungle Book." Simmons answered and Skye wasn't sure if she was joking or not.

Simmons just smiled a small half-smile and reached for her hand.

"Thank you, Skye," she said giving her hand a squeeze before letting go and walking away.

Skye just stood at the hallway and watched as Simmons turned round the corner. She ran through the conversations she had with both scientists in her head. She had an idea of what was going on and she swore to herself she was going to help them sort this out. _So help me God._

* * *

**A/N: Sorry that took a while. I had an idea on where I wanted it to go and then it just went *pfffffft*. **

**BUT! Thank you to eckles for helping me get back on track, checking on the continuity, and giving great suggestions...and basically for being a wonderful human being. **


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **

**This is un-beta-ed.**

**Apologies in advance for making them ooc.**

* * *

It was only when she was in her room later that night, feeling more emotionally exhausted than she thinks she should be, that Skye realized that she never got to tell Simmons what Fitz had said to her.

She supposed she could send an encrypted message but upon thinking about it further, she decided that there were some things better talked about face to face.

* * *

She stared up at the ceiling, her mind too awake to get some sleep. She kept playing in her head the conversations she'd had with both scientists and sighed, knowing that she'd let herself be dragged into a situation where she ought to act as the mediator. Frankly though, she didn't know what to do. She knew how Fitz felt, saw how Simmons was when Fitz was in a coma and she finally, found out how Simmons felt. She tried to tell Fitz but he wouldn't listen, and somehow Skye knew it was a bit hard to believe that Simmons felt the same way about him, especially since Simmons didn't really say goodbye and had not even contacted him in the three days since she left.

She thought she was starting to understand what was going on. But first she had to get the story straight and decided she would set out to do that in the morning. Knowing she had a long day ahead, Skye gingerly closed her eyes, finally letting the exhaustion pull her to sleep...

_What does the fox say? _

Skye jolted awake at the sound of her alarm. "Shit."

_Ring-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding! __Gering-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding!__Gering-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding!__What the fox say?_

She glanced at her phone. 4:45 AM. "Shit." She shut her alarm off. _Should probably change alarm tone_.

She drew her covers over her head wondering if she should just lie in. She threw the covers away a few seconds later knowing that May would skin her alive if she missed her training. She had expected that May would be stricter than Ward-_No, don't go there_, Skye scolded herself.

She took a minute to compose herself and glanced again at her phone. The clock read 4:48. She had 12 minutes. She let out a huff. "Thanks FitzSimmons." she muttered.

When Skye got to the training room at five o'clock, May was already meditating.

She learned early on that May could not (_should not, unless you have a death wish_) be disturbed once she's started so Skye just grabbed her yoga mat and took her place beside May.

It was almost like an early morning prayer, really. They did this every morning as part of their training routine. It was apparently a way to center energies or whatever you call that. While she has always liked the idea of centering and relaxing before the grueling part of the training, she has never been more grateful for this pre-training meditation more than she was at that moment. The meditation usually lasts for fifteen minutes and she had every intention of using it as an opportunity to take a nap.

* * *

"So, May, uh..." Jab. Straight. Duck. "I know, this probably isn't the best time to talk about this but I was—ow!" she exclaimed when May's left hook hit her jaw.

"Hands up."

She held up her hands in defensive stance.

"_M-hm. _As I was saying—"

"Left foot forward," May instructed.

She did as told.

"_Anyway..."_ Jab. Straight. Hook.

"So this is probably the best time to ask but-" Duck.

"-I know maybe you think this is none of my business but-" Jab. Straight. Duck. Jab.

"-it sort of is because you know, they are my friends and I think that's what friends do-" Duck.

"-you know, look out for each other." Jab. "Ow."

"Break," May finally said, standing up straight and looking Skye in the eyes.

"Okay." Skye said. She knew the look. It was the "You have five minutes. Spill." Look.

"I'm sure you've noticed something's off between Fitz and Simmons, I mean, they're not being FitzSimmons. I've only noticed three days ago but I'm using the excuse that I was away for a long time but—" she stopped at the slight change in May's features. She was now sporting the "Get to the point" Look although there was also a hint of sadness in her eyes.

"What happened when Fitz woke up?" she finally asked.

That day at the motel when May unofficially became Skye's new S.O., Skye made it her personal mission to be able to read every flicker of the eyes, quirk of the mouth, change in stance and each and every combination of those that May made and what they meant.

Right now, her body language conveyed sadness, and a hint of resignation.

It was a few seconds before she spoke. "We're just starting to rebuild S.H.I.E.L.D. and Coulson needed all hands on deck," she said. Skye noted that she sounded apologetic.

"We were all relieved—happy-when Fitz woke up, which was why Coulson broke protocol when he contacted you to let you know."

"I wanted to come back here."

"And we wanted you to. More so a week after he woke up but for a far more compelling reason other than just for a family photo op. We couldn't risk contacting you again, though."

Skye waited. May had always been direct to the point and she wondered why she was suddenly giving these details but she knew that May always did things deliberately.

"He requested not to see Simmons."

Skye felt her jaw drop.

"We thought it was the trauma. That maybe being with Simmons triggered memories of Ward and being underwater and that these were detrimental to his recovery. We honored his request. At least until he was still in the hospital wing. He stayed there for three more weeks."

She couldn't speak.

"I was sent abroad the day he got discharged from the hospital and I can't tell you any more than that. I just returned a day ahead of you. But I know that being with Simmons did trigger memories, and I could tell that they were not about Hydra or Ward, or the trauma of almost dying. We knew that something wasn't right between them, but maybe we all hoped that they could sort this out on their own. They have a solid history, but...I should have learned from experience that sometimes a solid history is not enough when emotions are involved."

She regarded May for a moment. She felt the load of everything she said, and the unspoken plea to help them sort this out. She nodded once.

May nodded back. "Hands up, left foot forward."

Skye punched and ducked for the rest of her morning training. Of all the things May told her, only one fact nagged her thoughts and it was that Fitz deliberately asked to be separated from Simmons.

* * *

Skye took an extra thirty minutes of post-training meditation, which was really thirty more minutes of nap time.

She had another reason for staying behind, though. Her earlier conversation with May just made her even more determined to find out what happened that month that Fitz was recovering and there was only one other person in the whole Playground that she could press for information. And she happened to know that that person came into the gym for training exactly thirty minutes after her and May.

"Thought you should be finished by now."

Her eyes flew open when she heard his voice. She didn't realize he was there already.

"Hey, Trip." she called out. He was leaning against the door frame arms crossed over his chest and sporting an easy smile on his face.

"You gonna make me leave? You don't own this gym, you know." she teased.

He grinned and walked up to her, yoga mat in hand, and proceeded to sit next to her.

"I was actually waiting for you," she said, the moment he sat down. Her stomach did an involuntary backflip when he faced her with his million-dollar-toothpaste-commercial smile and she mentally kicked herself for it. _Remember, Ward! _She scolded herself. _Actually, no. Don't. But you get the idea._

"Want to spar?" Trip asked, oblivious to the internal battle waging inside Skye's head.

"Nope. Actually, I want to talk."

He regarded her for a moment before asking, "What about?"

"FitzSimmons," she replied.

She watched as comprehension dawned on his face.

"I want to know what happened when he got discharged from the hospital wing."

"What do you know so far?"

"He didn't want to see Simmons."

Trip was silent for a while and Skye thought he was never going to answer.

"I don't think it wasn't that he didn't want to see Simmons," he began. The seriousness in his voice made her shift positions so she was facing him completely. "I think it was more like he was afraid of how she would treat him if they were in the same room together. We all know something happened when they were trapped underwater. Maybe you know more than the rest of us do. But I know that if you're certain you were gonna die, the last thing you'd want to do is to be able to say goodbye to the people you loved. And if you happened to be with that person, you'd want to tell that person just how much she means you."

He paused so Skye gestured for him to continue.

"It was clear that Fitz loved Simmons," he pressed on. "And I think he didn't just love her. He was in love with her. And like I said, if you know for certain that were gonna die, you'd want to tell the person you love that you love her. And I think that was what he did. He was prepared to die, but he didn't. And now..."

"So what happened? What happened when he got discharged?"

"Well, being cleared from the hospital meant that he no longer had an excuse to hide from Simmons without hurting her feelings even more. I would see them around the base together since but I could—we all could—tell that something was off. You know them better than I do and I know you know what I mean. But I did notice that they were weirder, or at least Fitz was, whenever they knew I was around."

"What do you mean?" Skye knew that Fitz used to be jealous of Trip, but she thought he had warmed up to him since.

"Well, I daresay he's warmed up to me since he recovered but every time I'm with the both of them, he'd be all smiles and chummy...and he kept insisting that Simmons should spend time with me."

"He _what?_"

"Yeah."

"But...did you know he used to be jealous of you because of Simmons?"

He nodded. "Exactly."

* * *

Skye had been very patient with Fitz. She knew and had tried to be understanding that he was wounded by self-doubt. She'd played the role of sympathetic friend but now that she had a better picture of what really transpired, she just thought he was being stupid.

She made a beeline towards Fitz the moment the lab doors hissed open and without preamble smacked him at the back of the head.

"OW!" His hand flew to the back of his head. "What the heck was that for?" he rounded at her.

"You prat!" she shouted.

"Do you even know what that means?" he exclaimed, his voice a pitch higher.

"You're an effing idiot!" she said, glaring at him.

He stared at her for a second. "Touché." he scoffed.

She ignored his remark. "You. Were. Deliberately. Pushing. Her. Away." She punctuated each word by jabbing her forefinger to his chest.

She watched as his expression changed from annoyance to confusion to comprehension and finally to shame. He opened his mouth to speak but closed it again after a second and proceeded to stare at his feet. She felt a tug at her heart at how pathetic looked and her irritation dissipated somewhat.

"I thought you love her." She said, kinder this time.

"You don't understand Skye. I know my place," He replied, still staring at the floor.

Skye didn't know whether to hug him or to slap him so she resolved to just plant herself firmly where she stood and let the silence take over.

She watched as he went back to his work table, and she felt her heart clench when she caught the blank look in his eyes. She was just about to say something—anything—when the lab doors hissed open again. They both looked up to see who came in and Skye felt her heart skip a beat.

"Jemma," she heard Fitz whisper.

Simmons was back, the elephant trailed behind her and Skye swore she almost heard it go "Toot." And it was like her alarm just went off in her head.

* * *

**[A/N: What does the fox say? Ring-ding-ding-ding-ding-e-ring-e-ding...**

**The Fox is actually my brother's alarm tone. It's weird, I know. And he sleeps like a log so I hear it like 5 times every frickin morning.**

**My apologies for being so bipolar with this fic. Not just this chapter but the whole fic.**

**As for the final chapter, I wanted to have it posted it by tomorrow before the premiere airs but I couldn't find the proper emotional disposition to be able to write it down so I'm going to be realistic, I'm gonna finish this story but likely not within the next few days.]**


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